By Omeiza Ajayi
ABUJA: The Federal Government said it would begin a serious clampdown on irregular migrants in the country as of August 1.
Accordingly, government has given a grace period of three months from May 1 when the new Expatriate Administration System EAS will take place, to August 1 when it will begin enforcement.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja during a meeting with the Nigerian Employers’ Consultative Association NECA.
He said there would be something like an immigration amnesty programme for the regularization of due processes for three months.
The minister also warned that the Federal Government will no longer tolerate a situation where some companies obstruct the Nigeria Immigration Service NIS from carrying out its legitimate duties.
Doing a recap of what the parties agreed on, the minister said; “We agreed that the era when companies, some companies, some, very few companies behave irresponsibly by distorting, blocking, blockading, and as a matter of fact, avoiding being subjected to immigration laws will no longer be tolerated.
“We all agree with the private sector, by virtue of the law, immigration service has a right to do their job and they must perform their mandate. So, we have said we will be very hard on any company that avoids or prevents the Nigeria Immigration Service from carrying out its legal responsibility. We will not tolerate that. We will not tolerate that going forward.
“And besides that, we also reviewed the fees, because we know that the fees at the moment are not sustainable for certain citizenship and business activities of government and we have jointly agreed, negotiated and agreed. We have met in the middle in so many instances and we have shifted and considered grounds, different instances and the detailed breakdown will be provided officially, and I think will be signed by both the ministry and you.
“One other thing that we have also agreed on is, of course, the new fees and of course, the new administration system will take effect from the 1st of May 2025. So, we said from that 1st of May, we will create an immigration amnesty programme for regularization of due processes for three months, that is, May to June, June to July, and of course, July to August. So by 1st of August, there will be a strict clampdown on irregular immigrants and we hope that people will take advantage of the three months period to be able to regularize and subject themselves to established immigration protocols.
We hope that will be done and that is to take effect from the 1st of May all the way to the 1st of August”, he added.
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